ity! Come, come!

BUNERAT. I suppose my new duties won't take me there yet?

THE PRESIDENT. Don't you worry yourself. In the winter, yes, it's very
well--but the summer--ah, the summer.

BUNERAT. I am not the one appointed?

THE PRESIDENT. Ah! You know already?

BUNERAT. Yes--I--yes--that is to say, I didn't know it was official.

THE PRESIDENT [_brushing his hat and catching sight of a dent_] Dented
already. In these days the hats they sell you for felt, my dear chap,
they're paste-board, simply--

BUNERAT. True. Yes, I didn't know it was official. Monsieur Mouzon is
very lucky.

_Enter Vagret in mufti._

THE PRESIDENT. There, there is our dear Monsieur Vagret. Changed your
dress already. Yes, you're at home, you. For my part I must pack up all
this. Where the devil is the box I put my gown in? [_Bunerat makes a
step to fetch it and then remains motionless_] It's curious--that--what
have they done with it? In that cupboard--you haven't seen it, my dear
Monsieur Bunerat?

BUNERAT. No.

THE PRESIDENT. Ah, here it is--and my jacket in it. [_He opens the box
and takes out his jacket, which he lays aside on the table_] Well, well,
you've got them acquitted, my dear sir! Are you satisfied?

VAGRET. I am very glad.

THE PRESIDENT. And if they are the murderers?

VAGRET. I must console myself with Berryer's remark: "It is better to
leave ten guilty men at liberty than to punish one innocent man."

THE PRESIDENT. You have a sensitive nature.

VAGRET. Ought one to have a heart of stone, then, to be a magistrate?

THE PRESIDENT [_tying up the box in which he has put his judge's
bonnet_] One must keep oneself above the little miseries of humanity.

VAGRET. Above the miseries of others.

THE PRESIDENT. Hang it all--

VAGRET. That is what we call egoism.

THE PRESIDENT. Do you say that for my benefit?

VAGRET. For all three of us.

BUNERAT. Au revoir, gentlemen. Au revoir. [_He shakes hands with each
and goes out_]

THE PRESIDENT [_taking off his gown_] My dear Monsieur, I beg you to be
more moderate in your remarks.

VAGRET. Ah, I assure you that I am moderate! If I were to speak what is
in my mind, you would hear very unpleasant things.

THE PRESIDENT [_in shirt sleeves_] Are you forgetting to whom you are
speaking? I am a Councillor of the Court, Monsieur le Procureur.

VAGRET. Once again, I am not speaking to you merely; the disagreeable
things I might say would condemn me equally. I am th